The American Dream means coming to America and getting a world of opportunities at your fingertips, but this is not the reality for many. I am a white woman so I don't feel any discrimination personally or people that look like me at school. But I have seen people that don't look like me get discriminated against in my classes. I feel totally accepted at school because my school is predominantly white, which I wish weren't true - I wish it was more diverse, and thus more inclusive.
In curriculum, I feel that not as many women are shown as men. I wish we thought more about women and their achievements in our lessons.
I also think that mental health needs to be talked about more openly in school environments. As a girl that suffers from depression, I think that my school should talk about it more and remove the stigma from these types of conversations. I think that the world of mental health needs a lot more light shone on it, so people realize that they're not alone in their struggles. It's harmful to see that those struggling with mental illness are not super appreciated.
One of the American curriculum's intrinsic faults is that it depicts a lot of white saviors, and obviously not everyone is white in America. So our lessons need to be based on all Americans, not just white straight males.
I think that schools need to make a better effort to show women in all subjects, not just some. I wish there were more lessons in every class about women in those fields.
There is a danger in perpetuating a white, male curriculum. We need diversity because America is diverse. We should be pushing diverse voices to replace some of the overwhelming single-sided perspectives in curriculum, to make America's education system as diverse as it really is.
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